Chapter 4 — The Boy and the Boat
That evening, Margot did something she had not done in years.
She left her apartment before midnight without a meeting, without security, without purpose beyond movement.
She found herself outside a modest brick building in Wagner Terrace.
Lights on in the kitchen.
A child’s silhouette moving behind blinds.
She didn’t knock at first.
She simply stood there, holding the folded paper boat in her hand like evidence she didn’t know how to submit.
Eventually, the door opened.
Hayden stood there.
He did not look surprised.
“You followed me?” he asked.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“That’s usually how people end up here anyway.”
A pause.
Then:
“Jude gave me something,” she said.
Hayden’s expression shifted slightly.
Not alarm.
Attention.
“He shouldn’t have,” he said.
“I think he meant to.”
From inside, Jude’s voice called, “Dad? Is she still there?”
Hayden didn’t answer immediately. Then he stepped aside.
“Come in,” he said quietly.
The apartment was small. Clean. Functional. Nothing like Margot’s glass silence of a home.
Jude sat cross-legged on the floor with maps spread around him like constellations.
When he saw Margot, he lit up.
“You came back,” he said.
“I didn’t leave anything behind,” she corrected gently.
Jude pointed at the paper boat.
“That’s yours now.”
Margot looked at it. “Why?”
“Because you needed it more than me.”
Hayden closed his eyes briefly, like he was bracing for impact.
But Margot didn’t smile.
May you like
She sat down on the floor instead.
Which was something she had not done in years.
